This article gives an overview of the aquatic communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.

Introduction

The aquatic communities of the NVC were described in Volume 4 of British Plant Communities, first published in 1995, along with the swamps and tall-herb fens.

In total, 24 aquatic communities have been identified.

The aquatic communities fall into the following six groups:

• four communities of the water surface and sub-surface, in which duckweeds and/or Frogbit are the constant species; these communities (A1, A2, A3 and A4) are found in moderately-rich to eutrophic standing waters
• eight free-floating or rooted and submerged, pondweed communities (A5, A6, A11, A12, A13, A14, A15 and A21)
• six communities in which rooted water-lilies and pondweeds with floating leaves are the constant species (A7, A8, A9, A10, A19 and A20)
• three communities in which water-crowfoots and/or starworts are the constant species (A16, A17 and A18)
• two hairgrass and quillwort communities (A22 and A23)
• a single community characterised by free-floating vegetation found in impoverished base-poor standing waters (A24).

List of aquatic communities

The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:

• A1 Lemna gibba community Lemnetum gibbae Miyawaki & J. Tx. 1960
• A2 Lemna minor community Lemnetum minoris Soó 1947
• A3 Spirodela polyrhiza - Hydrocharis morsus-ranae community
• A4 Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloides community
• A5 Ceratophyllum demersum community Certaophylletum demersi Hild 1956
• A6 Ceratophyllum submersum community Certaophylletum submersi Den Hartog & Segal 1964
• A7 Nymphaea alba community Nymphaeetum albae Oberdorfer & Mitarb. 1967
• A8 Nuphar lutea community
• A9 Potamogeton natans community
• A10 Polygonum amphibium community
• A11 Potamogeton pectinatus - Myriophyllum spicatum community
• A12 Potamogeton pectinatus community
• A13 Potamogeton perfoliatus - Myriophyllum alterniflorum community
• A14 Myriophyllum alterniflorum community Myriophylletum alterniflori
• A15 Elodea canadensis community
• A16 Callitriche stagnalis community
• A17 Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community
• A18 Ranunculus fluitans community Ranunculetum fluitantis Allorge 1922
• A19 Ranunculus aquatilis community Ranunculetum aquatilis Géhu 1961
• A20 Ranunculus peltatus community Ranunculetum peltati Sauer 1947
• A21 Ranunculus baudotii community Ranunculetum baudotii Br.-Bl. 1952
• A22 Littorella uniflora - Lobelia dortmanna community
• A23 Isoetes lacustris/setacea community
• A24 Juncus bulbosus community.